Sitting at a Screen Ruins Good Health

Recent studies show that sedentary lifestyles are causing increases in the risk of heart disease, stroke, and other sometimes fatal conditions. With more and more employment requiring long hours seated at a computer terminal, these percentages are likely to increase over the next decades.

How Sitting is the New Smoking

People who spend the vast majority of their waking moments sitting experience higher than average rates of coronary disease and diabetes mellitus. Too much sitting has been directly linked to obesity, a condition responsible for causing increased risk of cardio-pulmonary disease and some fatal cancers. These findings have led researchers to proclaim sitting as the new smoking due to its contribution to serious health conditions and the decrease in life expectancy it causes.

Where the Sitting is Happening

Prolonged sitting is not just happening at the workplace, although a huge increase in immobility has been experienced in the past fifty years due to continued automation and a trend toward technology-based occupations. With longer commutes, people are sitting for longer periods of time in their cars and on public transportation to and from work. The rise of on-screen entertainment, accessed on phones, tablets, computer monitors, and televisions has kept people sitting while they enjoy content and media on the devices.

Gaming Leads to Hours of Sitting

Console gaming has replaced playing sports after school for many children and young adults, resulting in an even more sedentary lifestyle during these developmental years. Adults also spend inordinate amounts of time perched in front of online casino games. Visit CasinoGuides.ca for more info and reviews on the gaming subject. Online gambling sites demand hours of sitting while playing computer versions of table games, leading to even more hours of little or no movement after a full day at work spent sitting at a desk.

The Solution is Simple, Stand Up and Move

The cure for sitting is deceptively simple. Stand up and move. Of course this is easier said than done. To reverse the cycle people must prioritize taking breaks from sitting and incorporate moving into their daily lives. Without these interventions, the negative impact of sitting on health will continue.